December is generally dedicated to Prophet Jesus, the son of
Mary, as many falsely claim that he was born on the 25th of
December. Almost all Christian scholars and religious leaders believe that he
was not. But people wanted to celebrate the birthday of Jesus so they
(majority) picked up 25th of December (as it was promoted by an
influential group), although it happened to be the date of birth of Nimrod –
the one who claimed to be god on earth, during Prophet Abraham’s (Ibrahim’s)
era. Still it gave the modern Christians an excuse to celebrate and enjoy the ‘mela’.

Similarly, some groups of ignorant (Jaahil) Muslims are
competing with the Christians and they decided to celebrate the birthday of
Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) on the 12th of Rabi-al-Awwal. There are
scholars and other groups who claim that he was not born on the 12th,
he was rather born on the 10th, while the third group claims that he
was born on the 8th of Rabi-al-Awwal. But why is that important?

What’s important for these people that they can compete with
the Christians with a parallel celebration on the same lines and enjoy the ‘mela’.
That’s the ‘Islamization’ of the Christmas.

They are the same ignorant people who competed with Hindus
and copied their ‘Deewali’ celebration converting it into ‘Shab-e-Meraj’
celebration and have fun with lighting. No such thing existed during the
lifetime of the Prophet (s.a.w.) or during the times of ‘Khulafa-e-Raashideen’.
But ‘Jaahil’ Mullahs wanted a parallel festival, so they ‘Islamized’ the
festival of lights ‘Deewali’.

Muslims in India
and Pakistan
very badly need education – the Quranic education. Otherwise, ignorant Mullahs
(Maulvis) will corrupt Islam just like their Christians brothers corrupted
Christianity. And that’s what Kaafireen want.

The messengers were chosen by Allah for the guidance of
mankind from among the nations living on earth at that time. They were the best
models for people to show them how to implement the commands of Allah, and how
to live by the Book (the Message) of Allah. We should look at the lives of
these messengers or prophets of God and try to follow these role-models in
living by the rules prescribed for us by Allah. It’s the Message and ‘living by
the Message’ which is more important than anything else in this world because
we’ll be questioned about it in the next world.

Since we are very easily influenced by the Devil, we look
for joy and glitter of this worldly life. We love ‘mujras’, ‘dharnas’, ‘jalsa’,
‘jaloos’, ‘tamasha’, ‘jashn’, fun, parties and celebrations, directly or
indirectly attributed to the religion.

It’s ironical as well as sad, unfortunate and unforgivable
that we spend millions on the birthday celebrations (lighting and decorations) of
Muhammad (s.a.w.) ignoring, at the same time, the teachings, the instructions
and recommendations of Muhammad (s.a.w.) on how to live as Muslims. The same
amount of money can bring food to many mouths in Pakistan
and India.
This money can build shelters for the homeless who sleep on the streets. This
money can be used to help those young girls who could not get married because
of the dowry and wedding expenses. These millions can give orphan children some
means to pursue good education, a bright future and a respectable life.

Unfortunately, the general attitude is: ‘It’s not our
problem. The Govt. should help them’. If, what the Prophet (s.a.w.) tells us to
do, is not our problem, then celebrating Prophet’s birthday is not our problem
either. We should not be collecting donations by knocking at every door in the
street if we are not going to spend that money as per the teachings of the
Prophet (s.a.w.). It’s not right. People’s money must be spent on people’s
welfare, not on parties!

We glorify the
messengers and

ignore or
practically reject the

message they
brought. But they

brought us the
Message of Allah,

and we’ll be
questioned about it!

Listen, people! If you are Muslims, then follow Islam!
Simple as that! Don’t try to import Pagan festivals and traditions to your Deen
by ‘Islamizing’ Deewali, Holi, Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, etc., etc.!
Prophet Jesus (a.s.) and Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) never celebrated their
birthdays nor did they ask or recommend anybody to do that. Christians imported
and started celebrating Christmas over 300 years after the death of Jesus.
Munafiqeen started that.

Similarly, Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.)’s birthday was never
celebrated in his lifetime, nor during the time of Khalifah Abu Bakr (r.a.a.),
nor during the time of Khalifah Umar bin al-Khattab (r.a.a.), nor during the
time of Khalifah Usman bin Affan (r.a.a.), and nor during the time of Khalifah
Ali bin Abu Talib (r.a.a.). When was it started and who started it? Go figure
it out and please do some research before putting on me a stupid label or issuing
a ‘Jaahilana Fatwa’.

The best homage to the Prophet (s.a.w.) is to follow his
Sunnah; and the best way to remember him is to implement his teachings. He
lived a very simple but clean and honest life as a leader, as a reformer, as a
teacher, as a father, as a husband and as a man. He’s the best role-model on
the face of earth! May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him!

Islam is a very simple Deen based on social justice,
equality, and piety (or Taqwa). As a Muslim, you should know what Taqwa (piety
or righteousness) is! Taqwa (righteousness) is the foundation stone of Faith
(Iman). Here’s what Allah says about it in the Quran:

“Wherefore God, having created
before all things His Messenger, gave to him before aught else the faith which
is as it were a likeness of God and of all that God has done and said. And so
the faithful by faith sees all things better than one sees with his eyes;
because the eyes can err; no they do almost always err; but faith errs never,
for it has for foundation God and His word. Believe me that by faith are saved
all the elect of God. And it is certain that without faith it is impossible for
any one to please God.”

---
Jesus Christ

Jesus says:

“God is a spirit; and
they that worship Him must

worship Him in spirit
and in truth”. (John 4:24).

And the Bible says God will not
accept worship when people take a pagan custom or manner of worship and try to
honor Jesus with it.

Again Jesus
said:

“In vain they do
worship me, teaching for doctrines

the commandments of
men”. (Matt. 15:9).

Jesus said further:

“Full well ye reject the
commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition”.

This is precisely what the
millions are doing today. They ignore the commandment of God and follow pagan
customs.

Christmas Was Outlawed:

In England, as the authorized Bible
became available to the common people by the decree of King James II in 1611,
people began to discover the pagan roots of Christmas (Yule, its true name)
which are clearly revealed in Scripture. The Puritans in England, and later in Massachusetts
Colony, outlawed this holiday as witchcraft. Near the end of the nineteenth
century, when other Bible versions began to appear, there was revival of the
celebration of Christmas.

The Last Trumpet Ministries
International declares:

“To say that Jesus was born on December 25th
is a lie! The true date is sometime in September according to the
Scriptures.

Trees, wreaths, holly, mistletoe and the like are
strictly forbidden as pagan and heathen! To say that these are Christian
or that they can be made Christian is a lie!

The Lord never spoke of commemorating his birth but
rather commanded us to remember the sacrifice of His suffering and death,
which purchased our salvation.”

Allah sent His Messengers to the
world to guide humans to choose the right path. They all promoted and preached
Islam – the Faith Allah chose for the mankind. Those who, after receiving the
true guidance from the Prophets, knowingly make the wrong choices and defy
Allah and His Messengers, they earn the wrath of Allah. All those people who
follow the Pagan teachings and customs, make that category. They are not true
believers. The Almighty warns us:

وَمَن يُشَاقِقِ
ٱلرَّسُولَ مِن بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ

لَهُ ٱلْهُدَىٰ
وَيَتَّبِعْ غَيْرَ سَبِيلِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ نُوَلِّهِ

مَا تَوَلَّىٰ وَنُصْلِهِ
جَهَنَّمَ وَسَآءَتْ مَصِيراً

‘If anyone contends
with the Messenger

even after guidance
has been plainly

conveyed to him, and
follows a path

other than that
becoming to men of

Faith, We shall leave
him in the path

he has chosen, and
land him in Hell –

what an evil refuge!’

(Quran 4:115)

It Was Islam!

Yes, Islam. That’s the faith
Allah Himself chose for the mankind and that was the religion promoted by all
messengers of God in every era. We humans changed the contents and gave
different names to it. Allah mentions in the Holy Quran the instance when Jesus
asks his disciples to help him in the cause of Allah. Here is the verse:

فَلَمَّآ أَحَسَّ عِيسَىٰ مِنْهُمُ ٱلْكُفْرَ

قَالَ مَنْ أَنصَارِىۤ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ

قَالَ ٱلْحَوَارِيُّونَ نَحْنُ أَنْصَارُ ٱللَّهِ

آمَنَّا بِٱللَّهِ وَٱشْهَدْ بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَ

‘When Jesus found
unbelief on their

part he said: Who
will be my helpers

to (the work of)
Allah? Said the

disciples: We are
Allah’s helpers;

we believe in Allah,
and do you

bear witness that we
are Muslims.’

(Quran 3:52)

The disciples asked Jesus to be a witness for them in front
of Allah testifying that they were Muslims. Yes, Muslims! Islam was the Faith
of Prophet Jesus, and of all the other Prophets/Messengers of Allah.

Here are a few excerpts from the Gospel of Barnabas:

“Everything that may hinder you from

serving God, cast it
from you as man casts

away everything that
hinders his sight.”

--- Jesus Christ

Jesus Defines God:

“… God is a good without which
there is naught good; God is a being without which there is naught that is; God
is a life without which there is naught that liveth; so great that he filleth
all and is everywhere. He alone hath no equal. He hath had no beginning, nor
will he ever have an end, but to everything hath he given a beginning, and to
everything shall he give an end. He hath no father nor mother; he hath no sons,
nor brethren, nor companions. And because God hath no body, therefore he eateth
not, sleepeth not, dieth not, walketh not, moveth not, but abideth eternally
without human similitude, for that he is incorporeal, uncompounded, immaterial,
of the most simple substance. He is so good that he loveth goodness only; he is
so just that when he punisheth or pardoneth it cannot be gainsaid.”

(From the Gospel of Barnabas, Chapter 17)

“And it is certain
that without faith it is

impossible for any
one to please God.”

--- (Jesus Christ)

Love Thy Neighbor!

“Woe to that man
through whom the offence

comes. It were better
for the man if he

should have millstone
about his neck and

should be sunk in the
depths of the sea than

that he should offend
his neighbor.”

--- (Jesus Christ)

We choose the path we want to
follow, and that will lead us to Heaven or Hell. We’ll be held accountable for
our choices. Allah has made everything clear for us in the Quran so that we
don’t look for excuses.

We are commanded by Allah to live and die for Allah, Lord of
the Worlds. The best role-model for us to follow is the Prophet (s.a.w.) himself.
So, we shouldn’t do anything that the Prophet (s.a.w.) didn’t do.

عَلَىٰ عَقِبَيْهِ
فَلَنْ يَضُرَّ ٱللَّهَ شَيْئاً وَسَيَجْزِى ٱللَّهُ ٱلشَّاكِرِينَ“Muhammad is no more than a Messenger.

Many were the messenger that passed away
before

him. If he died or were slain, will you
then turn back

on your heels? If any did turn back on his
heels, not

the least harm will he do to Allah; but
Allah (on the

other hand) will swiftly reward those who

(serve Him) with gratitude”.

(al-Quran 3:144)

Prophet Jesus (a.s.) was the
second to the last of all Prophets. In the Bible, he talks about the last
Prophet. In Chapter 43 of the Gospel of Barnabas, we find these paragraphs:

“… Then said Andrew: “You have told us many things of the
Messiah, therefore of your kindness tell us clearly all”. And in like manner
the other disciples besought him.’

“Accordingly, Jesus said: Truly I say to you, that every
prophet when he is come has borne to one nation only the mark of the mercy of
God. And so their words were not extended save to that people to which they
were sent. But the Messenger of God, when he shall come, God shall give to him
as it were the seal of his hand, insomuch that he shall carry salvation and
mercy to all the nations of the world (‘Mercy for the Mankind’) that shall
receive his doctrine. He shall come with power upon the ungodly, and shall
destroy idolatry, insomuch that he shall make Satan confounded; for so promised
God to Abraham, saying: “Behold, in your seed I will bless all the tribes of
the earth; and as you have broken in pieces the idols, O Abraham; even so shall
your seed do.”

In another part of the Gospel (Chapter 44), we find this
passage in which Jesus is talking to his disciples about Prophet Muhammad
(s.a.w.):

“I, therefore, say to you that the Messenger of God is
splendour that shall give gladness to nearly all that God has made, for he is
adorned with the spirit of understanding and of counsel, the spirit of wisdom
and might, the spirit of fear and love, the spirit of prudence and temperance,
he is adorned with the spirit of charity and mercy, the spirit of justice and
piety, the spirit of gentleness and patience, which he has received from God
three times more than he has given to all his creatures.”

“O blessed time, when he shall come to the world! Believe me
that I have seen him and have done him reverence, even as every prophet has
seen him; seeing that of his spirit God gives to them prophecy. And when I saw
him my soul was filled with consolation, saying: “O Muhammad, God be with you,
and may he make me worthy to untie, your shoe-latchet, for obtaining this I shall
be a great prophet and holy one of God”. And having said this, Jesus rendered
his thanks to God.”

What is ‘Iman’ (Faith)?

Allah, the Almighty, sent angel Jibril (Gabriel) to teach
Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) the elements of true Faith (Iman) and the elements of
‘Deen’ (Islam). Here is what Allah tells us in the Holy Quran:

آمَنَ الرَّسُولُ بِمَا
أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مِن رَّبِّهِ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ

كُلٌّ آمَنَ بِاللّهِ
وَمَلآئِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ

لاَ نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ
مِّن رُّسُلِهِ وَقَالُواْ سَمِعْنَا

وَأَطَعْنَا غُفْرَانَكَ
رَبَّنَا وَإِلَيْكَ الْمَصِيرُ“The Messenger believes in what has been

revealed to him from his Lord, as do the
men of faith.

Each one (of them) believes in Allah, His
angels, His

books, and His messengers. ‘We make no
distinction

(they say) between one and another of His
messengers’.

And they say: ‘We hear, and we obey’; (we
seek)

your forgiveness, our Lord, and to you

is the end of all journeys."

(al-Quran
2:285)

According to a Hadith, narrated Abu Hurairah (Bukhari, Book
No.2, Chapter 37, No.50):

“One day while the Prophet (s.a.w.) was sitting out with
people, a man came to him and asked:

“What is Faith (Iman)?”

Allah's Messenger (s.a.w.) replied: "Faith is to
believe in Allah; His angels; His Messengers; (the) meeting with Him (on
Judgment Day); and to believe in the Resurrection."

Allah's Messenger (s.a.w.) replied, "To worship Allah
as if you see Him, and if you cannot achieve this state of devotion then you
must consider that He is looking at you."

Then he (the man) further asked: "When will the Hour be
established?”

Allah's Messenger (s.a.w.) replied: "The answerer has
no better knowledge than the questioner. But I will inform you about its
portents:

1. When a slave (lady) gives birth to her master.

2. When the shepherds of black camels start boasting and
competing with others in the construction of higher buildings.

And the Hour is one of five things which nobody knows except
Allah. The Prophet (s.a.w.) then recited (from the Quran):

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ
عِندَهُ عِلْمُ ٱلسَّاعَةِ

"Verily, Allah,
with Him (alone) is

the knowledge of the
Hour”.

(al-Quran 31:34).

Then that man left and the
Prophet (s.a.w.) asked his Companions to call him back, but they could not see anything
(him). Then the Prophet (s.a.w.), said:

"That was Jibril (Gabriel) who came to teach people
their religion.”

Abu Abdullah said:
He (the Prophet, s.a.w.) considered all that as a part of Faith (Iman).”

People always try to make religion easier for themselves and
invent things. When they cannot find any support for these inventions or
innovations from the Quran, they go for weak or fake Ahadith. The researchers
have proved that the fabricated Ahadith have been included in the authentic
ones to confuse people and create Fitnah. We should be careful. The best source
of knowledge is the Quran.

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QURAN RECITATION

Al-Quran

The Guiding Light

WELCOME HOME

Assalaam-o-alaikum!

We are glad to see you here. We can accompany you home. By joining us, you'll, Insha-Allah, prepare yourself mentally and spiritually for your onward journey on the road less traveled. We are heading for Home - the promised Home. Allah says:

M. Javed Naseem

M. Javed Naseem (Jay Max) is a well-known journalist and broadcaster from Lahore (Pakistan). He is the author of six books. He has worked as a reporter and then sub-editor for daily Nawa-i-Waqt, Lahore; as sub-editor with the Pakistan Times, Lahore; and as editor of the weekly Community News, New York, NY, among others.He was an international broadcaster for radio Deutsche Welle (The Voice of Germany), Cologne, Germany; news editor and newscaster for Third World Broadcasting TV in New York; was producer & director of ‘Mabuhay’, an English language TV show for the Filipino community in New York. He had been an announcer at Radio Pakistan, Lahore; and Punjabi newscaster for Pakistan Television, Lahore. Before entering the field of professional journalism, he was a Lecturer/Instructor at the Govt. Commercial Training Institute, Lahore. He knows English, French, German, Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, Persian and some Arabic. He writes for Islamic websites. He is a Pakistani-American and now lives in retirement in Morocco, North Africa.Publications: The Way (Sunnah) of The Prophet (s.a.w.); God's Prescription - Al-Quran; A Wake-up Call; You Are Special; Stories of Prophets.